Power struggle: CEOs meet PM, call for boost to sector

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed the constitution of a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to look into the issues raised by a delegation of 18 power company heads. HT reports. When they met

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed the constitution of a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) under his principal adviser Pulok Chatterjee, with secretaries from various economic ministries, to look into the issues raised by a delegation of 18 power company heads led by Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani.

They met the Prime Minister seeking his intervention in resolving the country’s worsening electricity crisis as also major policy bottlenecks coming in the way of timely implementation of power projects by the private sector. The delegation included Shashi Ruia, SK Roongta, Cyrus Mistry, Ashok Hinduja, Sanjay Reddy, Sajjan Jindal, Gautam Adani and others. They spent the entire day meeting various ministers and secretaries.

Speaking to Hindustan Times after the meeting with the PM, a senior government official said the private developers — who have contributed 40% (or 22,000 mw) of the power capacity addition of 54,000 mw in the 11th plan so far — told the Prime Minister how they were faced with the problems of multiple ministries involved in the setting of a power project.

"The CoS under Chatterjee has been directed by the PM to meet every month and to act as a single window for these developers and will address all concerns and issues (concerning various ministries) that are coming in the way of developing a power project."